


The Not-Birthday Celebration

by Rachel_Lu



Category: Doctor Who, Doctor Who & Related Fandoms, Doctor Who (1963), Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: Birthday, Birthday Fluff, Birthday Presents, F/M, Falling In Love, Little Black Dress
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-09-01
Updated: 2015-09-01
Packaged: 2018-04-18 14:03:21
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,773
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4708622
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rachel_Lu/pseuds/Rachel_Lu
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The Doctor decides to treat Rose the day before they go to Jackie's for her birthday</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Not-Birthday Celebration

He had been acting rather strange, now that she was thinking about it.  For the past few days, he'd been fidgety around her at best, almost as though he wasn't daring to come to close, but then gave in and grabbed her hand with a thousand-watt grin.

The Doctor took her around galaxies, nattering on and on about the history of it all, and Rose would giggle and nod, listening to the pleasing lilt of his voice.  She watched his expression raptly, enjoying the way his eyebrows moved expressively and his wild hand gestures. 

He'd done it all, seen it all, and he was doing it all again with her.  Somehow, even after Sarah Jane and Reinette, it made her feel special.

She watched him pilot the TARDIS, sitting on the jump seat and generally, just enjoying the view.  Eventually she heaved a heavy breath and leaned forwards in her seat.  "Doctor?"

"Yes, Rose?" Even the question sounded enthusiastic coming from him as he flipped a lever, flying them back into the Vortex.

"I was thinking maybe we could go back to mum's for a bit," Rose said, not really wanting to tell him why it was she wanted to visit.

"What for?" He asked, his head poking out from behind the router to look at her.  She almost laughed as his expression: furrowed brows and pouted lip.

She shrugged, trying to seem nonchalant.  "Well, I was looking at the calendar, you know, the one that charts my 'days' on the TARDIS, and..."  She sighed heavily.  "It's my birthday tomorrow and I'd like to be with her.  I think she'd appreciate it."

The Doctor's head disappeared again and Rose tried not to think too much of it.  Of course he wouldn't want to take her to her mum's for a birthday, that would just be too domestic.  Maybe he'd drop her off, though, anyway, even if he didn't stay.

"But, Rose Tyler, your birthday is not until tomorrow," he pointed out, and she could hear him flipping more levers.  "By my count we've still got... Oh, thirteen hours of your not-quite birthday left, and that is when we _will_ celebrate it."

"Really?" Rose asked, surprised, "You want to?

"Of course I want to," he replied indignantly, "What kind of best mate do you think I am?"

"A right terrible one at times," Rose responded quickly.

"Oi!" she heard his reply from around the console and giggled.  She could hear his smile as he told her to run to her bedroom and get changed, the TARDIS would have something there for her. 

Rose followed his instruction and went off to her bedroom to get changed for her surprise un-birthday celebration.  She opened the door and was almost surprised at what she saw.  Before her, on her bed, lay what she could only describe as a little black dress.  She held it up to examine it.

It was a scoop neck dress that would fall just above the middle of her thighs, the skirt pleated.  The back of the dress was a complete floral lace outlet, leaving only room for her back to be shown, almost all the way down to the base of her spine. 

She found herself raising her eyebrows at the TARDIS's choice, but who was she to complain?  And, even so, she rather liked it, liked the raciness of it, considering she'd been trying to get the Doctor's attention for weeks.

The TARDIS had also chosen rather sensible black heeled shoes to go with it, which Rose understood, with the amount of trouble they got into. 

Rose got ready in almost record time, putting a slight curl in her hair and donning a silver pendant necklace to go with her ensemble.  She twisted and turned in the mirror, satisfied immensely with the back of the dress, and wondering if the Doctor would even notice.

Eventually, after touching up her makeup, she decidedly looked likes she was ready for a night out on the town, and actually, that was exactly how she liked it.  When she left her bedroom, she felt very confident and as if she could take down any man with a glance alone.

Unfortunately, the man she'd been glancing at for quite some time now didn't seem to be glancing back.  Or so she thought.

When she entered the console room, his eyes were immediately drawn to her, as if by magnetism, and her jaw twitched as she noticed his go slack.

"You look lovely," he said lowly, in a honeyed voice that made her shiver with what she knew were probably empty implications.

She blushed and squirmed a little under his gaze.  "Thanks," she smiled, "Shall we go then?"

His eyes snapped to hers as though he'd been broken from a reverie.  "Oh, yes, right then, after you, Rose Tyler."  He beamed at her and swung his arm towards the TARDIS doors in a grand gesture. 

She laughed and walked towards the doors, eager for what she might find outside of it. 

"That's backless," the Doctor said bluntly, as she was about to pull the doors open. 

Rose blinked in shock and turned over her shoulder.  "Yeah, it is.  Is that gonna be a problem here?  Is that not allowed?"

"It's allowed," the Doctor replied, "But, you know, for you, I don't know if I can-" he stopped quite suddenly, with his jaw clicking shut audibly.  "Never mind, let's go."

"No, Doctor, I really want-"

"To see this lovely place, I know!"  He smiled uneasily and grabbed her hand, pulling her out of the TARDIS.  "It's rather lovely.  Called 'Upex', the locals are purple humanoids, and good gracious almighty, can they cook.  I am taking you to a five-plum restaurant, Rose."

"Five-plum?" She repeated, resisting the urge to wrinkle her nose (and the urge to press what he had meant just a few moments previous).

"It's synonymous for five stars here," the Doctor informed her, swinging their hands lightly between them as they strolled down a rather Earth-like street.

He was right, the locals were rather purple, but looking very beautiful about it, and Rose had a hard time not staring at them or wanting to take pictures.  Fortunately, it seemed they were having the same problem with her.

 _Un_ fortunately, as if was with the Doctor and Rose, trouble started.  'Trouble' in this case consisted of the first battle of the Upex Civil War.  It was so expected, honestly, that Rose didn't even bat an eye before the Doctor told them which side they were with and they darted off to help.

Rose thanked the TARDIS telepathically for the sensible heels, with all the running around she ended up doing that night.  Thankfully, there were minimal casualties, since the Doctor was involved, and they were to leave unscathed.  Well, unscathed except for the fact that the top right corner of the lace on Rose's dress was torn, leaving her shoulder blade uncovered.  The Doctor had trouble restraining himself when he noticed it, though she didn't notice that.

They headed back to the TARDIS sweaty, tired, and hungry.  Rose still managed to be in high spirits, though, since she was remembering all the people they had helped save that night.  She skipped ahead of him and told him of all the people she'd met when they were briefly separated.

Realistically, they could've stayed for the whole war, seeing as though it was only a couple months, but Rose wanted to be with her mum on her birthday and the Doctor respected that.

The Doctor also acknowledged to himself that he had ruined tonight with Rose.  And yet, she was putting on a brave front, laughing and acting as though she was enjoying herself. 

Eventually, she noticed his behavior was off.  "What's the matter?" she asked him as he shut the TARDIS doors behind him. 

"I wanted to make your birthday special, Rose," he admitted, flicking a lever and smacking a button on the control panel.  "Instead I get you thrown into a civil war."

Rose furrowed her brows and approached him.  "Do you really think that this ruined my birthday?" She asked, peering up into his eyes. 

He nothing short of gazed down at her, searching her eyes and only finding sincerity.  He reached out and stroked her cheek with his thumb, wiping away a bit of dirt.  "You deserve better."

"I don't," she retorted, almost overlapping his words.  "Because this, what we do, that's the best thing there is.  To say I deserve any more, when there isn't more, is actually rather daft of you."

"I do a lot of daft things."

"I won't argue."

He smiled softly at her and leaned down, his hand sliding to the back of her neck.  Giving her a chance to pull away, his eyes fell shut and his lips pressed to hers.  He sighed in relief when her hands found the fabric of his jacket at his waist and fisted it, pulling him closer.

His other hand came up to her shoulder, holding her but giving her room to get out if she wanted to.

She slowly broke the kiss and gazed up at him, a smile on her face.  "You know, if I were mad at you, that would've solved it very easily."

"Would it?" The Doctor arched an eyebrow playfully.

"Mm," she replied, and her hands snaked up around his neck to pull him back down to her.  His arms fell around her waist and pulled her close.  She sighed against his mouth and opened her mouth under his, and he didn't hesitate to fully take what she was offering.

One of his hands traced up her back and slid into the hole in the lace on her dress, and she gasped at the unexpected sensation, pulling away from him.

"This has been torturing me since you put it on," he admitted, kissing her neck.

She hummed happily in response.  "I suspected."

"Did you?"

"Yeah."

"How'd you even get into this?" The Doctor asked, examining the dress, and she almost felt him getting ready to pull out the sonic screwdriver.

She giggled and pointed under her armpit, "There's a zip here, you're not supposed to be able to see it."

He batted her hand away and tugged the zipper down in one, smooth motion.  "Ah, like that."

In response, Rose grinned and shoved his jacket off his shoulders and quickly ripped open his oxford.  She beamed up at him and threw her arms around his neck.  He held her close, chuckling at the sudden switch.

"Happy birthday to me," she murmured into his neck.

And indeed it was. 


End file.
